Adapting The NovelHis favorite book in Tolkien's
1,000-page epic, Jackson calls The Return of the King the most filmable
of the three. "It's the culmination of everything that we've set
up," says Jackson. "All the different stories lead to this film. This
is really, in a sense, climactic from beginning to end."

For over a half-century, J.R.R. Tolkien's
works have continued to have a profound effect on generations of readers.
Revived and re-appreciated throughout the decades, the books have garnered new
life since the release of the first film, vaulting back onto bestseller lists
and driving a new generation of young readers to bookstores and libraries. With
Frodo Baggins and the Fellowship comes a message that even the smallest person
can change the course of the world, and the revelation that friendship and
individual courage may hold at bay even the most devastating forces of darkness.

Five years ago, Jackson and his
co-writers Frances Walsh and Philippa Boyens set pen to paper for the first time
in their attempt to adapt a sprawling work of imaginative fiction into a film
narrative structure. For the writers, the visual spectacle of the third film
never eclipsed the need to focus most intensely on the emotional resolution to
each individual character's quest. "We've tried to be faithful to the
spirit of the end of the story," comments Boyens. "The final passage
of this incredible story is one of the gifts, I think, to all readers in
literature." "Nobody comes out of this story unchanged," Jackson
adds. "They'll never be the same again."

One of the most pivotal guiding forces
behind The Lord of the Rings has been conceptual artist Alan Lee, who
created the seminal illustrations of Middle-earth for Harper Collins'
award-winning illustrated edition of The Lord of the Rings. Perhaps more
than anyone in the production, Lee understood the challenges Jackson and his
co-screenwriters would face in adapting Tolkien. "If you're not accustomed
to the book, that form of storytelling and language could seem a little
odd," the conceptual designer notes. "But they have thrown themselves
into this world. I think they have done quite courageous writing. They're
putting poetry into an epic, spectacular movie."